Christmas Postage Stamps

Collecting Christmas Stamps

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year for everyone, but especially for philatelists. Christmas postage stamps are abundantly plentiful, as Christmas cards and presents are sent far and wide among the postal services of the world. Stamp collecting is a year round hobby but if it did have a season all of its own then that would be Christmastime. The advent of the internet and email communication has had little impact upon the tradition of sending Christmas cards adorned with Christmas card stamps. Hundreds of greeting cards are sent by some households and often these cards are the only means of communication every year between friends who live great distances from each other. Keeping Christmas stamps in a collection is a great way to develop an interest in philately and kids nowadays could benefit greatly from old fashioned ‘real’ hobbies rather than the constant role playing PC games that seems to pervade their leisure time.

USPS Forever Stamps Booklet of 20

Holiday Evergreens Book of Forever Postage Stamps

Collecting Christmas Stamps 2012

Christmas Forever Postage Stamps

A stamp album given as a present to younger folk has a better chance of longevity that many of the toys that are now available. My stamp album survives into adulthood (I still have my first Stanley Gibbons album), unlike the other gifts I received when I was young, such as marbles, building bricks and wooden Thomas train toys, which all disappeared over the years. The great thing about collecting stamps is that all your friends and relatives can help with your collection at very little cost to them. If you are a young stamp collector then make sure that all your aunts and uncles are aware of your hobby as this makes them more inclined to remember you when they are abroad visiting other countries, especially when they are sending greeting cards home.

Christmas Postage Stamps from Ireland

An Post is the official postal authority of Ireland and is one of the most prolific postage stamp issuers in the world. Many philatelists will collect stamps from Ireland due to the quantity and the eclectic subject matter chosen for their stamp images. The Irish for Ireland is Eire and that is the country mark that you will see on all stamps issued by An Post. Eire is the Gaeilge version (Irish Language) for Ireland. These four Irish Christmas stamps were issued in different years with the stained glass Bethlehem scene and the robin redbreast being the latest stamps from 2010. Two of the others are from 2000 and 2005. Another Irish word called ‘Nollaig’ is also used on the stamps and this simply means Christmas although the literal translation of Nollaig is December.

USPS Christmas Postage Stamps 2012

Christmas Stamps USPS style, are probably the best known stamps of the Christmas variety simply because of the huge quantity that are issued each Christmas. It is normal to want to collect the stamps issued by your own country so many collectors do this almost as second nature. The real buzz is when you can add to a collection by acquiring stamps from another country as well. Irish collectors will naturally collect Irish stamps but will have a huge interest in US stamps too as so many people of Irish descent live in America (including some presidents).

Christmas Postage Stamps 2011

This presents a great opportunity for philatelists on both sides of the ocean to exchange their respective stamps when the send greetings to each other at Christmas time. As much attention, if not more, is paid to choosing the Christmas card stamps to be used as there is to picking the greeting card itself.

USPS stamps knowledge

US stamp collectors look out for St. Patrick’s Day stamps in much the same way as Irish philatelists look forward to Thanksgiving postage stamps and Independence Day stamps. The issuing of commemorative stamps gives the collectors added historical knowledge of another country’s customs and heritage. Some recent USPS issues commemorated other holidays such as the 2009, 44 cent Hanukkah postage stamp, the forever Holiday Evergreens and the 44 cent Kwanzaa postage stamp which celebrates a nonreligious holiday around the Christmas period. Kwanzaa runs for a week from St. Stephen’s Day to New Year Day at the end of each year. The first Hanukkah stamp issue by USPS was in 1996 and a year later, in 1997, the first Kwanzaa commemorative stamp was issued.

The Forever Holiday Evergreens for Christmas Post

Using evergreen foliage for decorating is particularly popular during the wintertime. This holiday season lends itself to the tradition of decorating with spruces, cedars and pines. The U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp set of four holiday stamps in 2010, featuring this Christmassy theme of green woods.

Traditional Christmas Stamps 2012 USPS

If you wish to buy Christmas stamps then the USPS shop is the best for buying Christmas stamps online. The USPS is the United States Postal Service and it issues millions of Christmas stamps during the festive season. Christmas stamp themes range from Santa Claus, snow, reindeers all the way to the more serious religious themes, but whatever your preference there will be an Xmas stamp theme to suit you. If there is not anything that is of particular interest to you and you have a different Christmas 2012 stamp image in mind then you can create Christmas stamps of your own design.

Make Your Own Christmas Postage Stamps for 2012

If you want to create your own 2012 Christmas postage stamps then you can create the images you want to use yourself with Zazzle. This company can legitimately print any image you want onto official USPS stamps blanks to give a variety of Christmas scenes on postage stamps. The stamp images can be of regular Christmas stamp themes, like the Irish Christmas stamps above, or just images of yourself and your family or even your favourite pet, if you wish. The choice is yours entirely. You are not restricted to Christmas either as you can create stamps for all occasions, including the popular occasions like Thanksgiving, New Year and Easter. These, do it yourself stamps, are ideal mementoes when attached to invitations to memorable events which might include Wedding postage, RSVP postage, Birthday postage and much more besides.

Comments

Aug 3, 2011 5:44am

greygreygoose
I hope that USPS Christmas postage stamps are forever as I always have stamps left from the previous year. Loved the article.

Aug 3, 2011 8:52am

Tom_Carver
Thank you for your early Christmas post comment. With Christmas 2011 postage just a short time away I hope the big stamp issuers, around the globe, such as USPS, Royal Mail, Australia Post and Canada Post come up with some innovative stamp issues and images for us to collect. I agree with you about the forever stamps from US post, they are a great idea.

Aug 7, 2011 10:31am

erinblakes
Nice collection of postage stamps. The Irish ones are beautiful, especially the 82 cent one. I never sent Christmas cards before but I think Christmas 2011 will be different. It seems like a good tradition and I hope to get many cards and Christmas postal stamps in return. Beautiful article.

Aug 12, 2011 8:07am

Tom_Carver
Thank you for your Christmas postage comments. I am glad to have encouraged you to send 2011 Christmas stamps (and cards). The USPS have a beautiful set of 4 Christmas 2012 stamps in the pipeline. They are beautiful traditional images. The Santa and Sleigh stamps features the reindeer flying over the snowy rooftops in splendid color. These forever Christmas stamps can be used individually but will be well worthwhile collecting as the full set of four, which create the full image when the are together.

Add a new comment - No HTML
You must be logged in and verified to post a comment. Please log in or sign up to comment.